Financial news

• Supermarket bosses deny making profit despite eye-watering levels of food inflation

  27-06-2023 23:50 via express.co.uk
  
  Supermarket bosses were quizzed by the Business and Trade Committee about profits during the cost of living crisis.
  
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• Boots to close 300 shops despite strong quarterly sales

  27-06-2023 21:50
  
  Announcement will add to recent speculation that owner Walgreens is preparing to put firm up for sale againBoots is to close 300 shops in the year ahead despite a 13.4% rise in quarterly turnover fuelled by high sales of sunscreen during the UK’s hot spell.The high street chemist, which is owned by the US group Walgreens Boots Alliance, said it was “evolving the store estate” by shutting branches that were close to each other in order to direct staff to where they were needed a
  
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• Lyma’s £500 skincare duo attracts waiting list of 30,000 people

  27-06-2023 20:55
  
  Experts say science-backed messaging and popularity with celebrities including Kim Kardashian behind successA £500 skincare product that lasts only a month’s use has attracted a waiting list of 30,000 people, with the company’s founder admitting to being “bowled over by the reaction”.Industry experts say the success of the product is due to it leading with science-backed messaging, which is increasingly popular among consumers, as well as backing from celebrities. C
  
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• ‘Greedflation’? The MPs missed the target when grilling the grocers | Nils Pratley

  27-06-2023 20:47
  
  MPs would have done better to wait until CMA had opined on supermarket prices – they would have known where to focusIf you have given yourself less than 90 minutes to investigate one of the hottest business and political issues of the hour – the charge of “greedflation” as it applies to supermarkets – it is usually a good idea to stick to the subject. Sadly, this was not the approach adopted by MPs on the business and trade select committee on Tuesday.The supposed g
  
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• The Guardian view on pricing power: it’s about firms’ strength and profiteering | Editorial

  27-06-2023 20:08
  
  For the first time since Covid, businesses are most to blame for the UK’s high inflation rates. But ministers are doing little about itJohn Maynard Keynes wrote, when considering the great inflationary episode of the first world war, that “no one benefited except the profiteer. The seeds of much subsequent trouble were sown. And we ended up with a national debt vastly greater in terms of money than was necessary and very ill distributed through the community.” That is where Bri
  
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• Bank of England’s quantitative easing scheme let ‘inflation take root’

  27-06-2023 19:45
  
  UK economy became reliant on cheap money due to the Bank’s actions, warns former permanent secretary to the TreasuryThe Bank of England’s quantitative easing money-printing programme enabled high inflation to take root in Britain, while creating “windfall gains” for the rich, a former Treasury mandarin has warned.Nick Macpherson, who was permanent secretary to the Treasury under the last Labour government and during David Cameron’s premiership, said the central bank
  
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• Morrisons’ boss admits supermarket chains have hiked profits on petrol

  27-06-2023 18:21
  
  David Potts was one of several executives of major grocers being quizzed by MPs over accusations of profiteering The boss of Morrisons has admitted that supermarkets have increased profits at the petrol pumps as he was quizzed by MPs alongside executives from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda who denied they were making more money from keeping food prices high.David Potts told MPs on the business and trade committee: “I think there is more profit at the retail end of fuel.” He said s
  
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• ‘The future is bleak’: how AI concerns are shaping graduate career choices

  27-06-2023 17:54
  
  From illustration to translation, young people worry that they will have to choose their paths carefullyRonan Carolan has always been the creative type, and after attending an art school’s open day last autumn he thought he had settled on illustration as a degree.But as the Ucas deadline approached, he began to have second thoughts. “I noticed more and more things drawn by AI,” he says, referring to a magazine cover among other examples. “Considering that only a few years
  
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• Is Rishi Sunak picking the right targets in his anti-inflation battle?

  27-06-2023 16:22
  
  After asking borrowers to hold their nerve, the prime minister now seems to be preparing to further squeeze public sector workersFresh from urging mortgage borrowers to “hold their nerve” in the face of dramatic increases in repayments, Rishi Sunak now appears to be preparing to squeeze public sector workers in his battle against inflation.Asked this week whether he would implement the recommendations of independent pay review bodies for staff including teaching and doctors – w
  
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• Martin Lewis ‘lost for words' as couple discover mortgage is interest only after 40 years

  27-06-2023 16:13 via express.co.uk
  
  Martin Lewis, the founder of Money Saving Expert, had been answering questions from viewers including a query about mortgages.
  
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• UK hospitality: how is the sector adapting to the cost of living crisis?

  27-06-2023 16:07
  
  We would like to hear from hospitality businesses about the different ways they have adapted to the cost of living crisisWe’d like to find out more about the ways that inflation and the cost of living crisis are affecting the UK hospitality sector.Amid mounting cost pressures such as high interest rates and energy bills and staff shortages, some hospitality businesses may also be experiencing reduced demand as people struggle to afford to pay for extras such as eating out. Continue reading
  
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• Crumb of comfort? Dorset baker wins £15k after being sacked for holey bread

  27-06-2023 16:01
  
  Employment tribunal rules that while Artur Piaszczynski’s loaves may have been inconsistent, he wasn’t given specific targets
  The head baker at a 300-year-old artisan bread shop in a Dorset seaside town has been awarded more than £15,000 after being sacked for making loaves with too many holes in them.Artur Piaszczynski, who argued during an employment tribunal that bread-making was an art and not a science, lost his job after complaints that customers were struggling to make d
  
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• Why are UK telecoms firms imposing inflation-busting bills?

  27-06-2023 16:00
  
  Exclusive: Ofcom is facing calls to intervene after companies pushed through prices rises of up to 17% this yearMobile and broadband firms accused of fuelling UK ‘greedflation’ with major price hikesCase study: ‘I’m being forced to make difficult choices’In the autumn of 2020, bosses at BT were faced with a problem. Britain’s economy was reeling as the second deadly wave of the Covid pandemic took hold, and millions of Britons were still shut out from their of
  
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• Mobile and broadband firms accused of fuelling UK ‘greedflation’ with major price hikes

  27-06-2023 16:00
  
  Exclusive: Government accused of being ‘asleep at the wheel’ after firms push through biggest round of price rises since 1991Why are UK telecoms firms imposing inflation-busting bills?Case study: ‘I’m being forced to make difficult choices’The UK’s largest mobile and broadband companies have been accused of fuelling “greedflation” after pushing through the biggest round of price hikes for more than 30 years.It comes ahead of a meeting on Wednesday
  
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• ‘I’m being forced to make difficult choices’: outrage at telecoms price rise

  27-06-2023 16:00
  
  EE customer living on boat to escape surging rents is ‘astonished’ by jump in broadband billMobile and broadband firms accused of fuelling UK ‘greedflation’ with major price hikesWhy are UK telecoms firms imposing inflation-busting bills?Stuart Ward, 68, was “astonished” when he learned EE would raise his broadband bill to £68.76 a month from April.“The deal that Ofcom agreed with telecommunication companies to add 3.9% on top of inflation rises is
  
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• Nottingham Building Society launches fixed term saver with six percent interest

  27-06-2023 15:19 via express.co.uk
  
  Savers can open an account with a deposit of just £10 and can deposit up to £250 each month.
  
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• HMRC issues 420,000 penalties to people on incomes too low to pay tax

  27-06-2023 14:38 via express.co.uk
  
  Those receiving a penalty would have been charged at least £100, which would have been more than half their weekly income in most cases, figures suggest.
  
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• Families on Universal Credit could receive a monthly boost up to £522 from this week

  27-06-2023 13:47 via express.co.uk
  
  The new amounts coming into effect this week have been described as the "biggest expansion to childcare provision".
  
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• Do you struggle to afford or use digital services in the UK? Share your experience

  27-06-2023 12:57
  
  We want to hear from people who are excluded due to financial constraints or lack of digital literacyWhether it’s due to the cost of living crisis or problems accessing help with digital literacy, people of all ages find themselves excluded from digital services.We would like to hear about the ways you, or your family and friends are digitally excluded. Perhaps you do not have access to broadband at home or find digital tasks difficult. How does it affect your daily life? How do you feel a
  
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• NS&I offers new payment method to top up Premium Bonds as £1million prize draw looms

  27-06-2023 12:48 via express.co.uk
  
  Britons are reminded that the more Premium Bonds they save, "the more chances of winning" they have.
  
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• 'My mortgage has gone up £500 a month': Woman faces 'difficult position' as payments rise

  27-06-2023 11:10 via express.co.uk
  
  After coming off her two-year fixed deal, a mum of one has seen her mortgage payments increase from £1,120 to £1,600 a month.
  
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• Britons warned 'lots of reasons you won't get full state pension' - how to check

  27-06-2023 09:49 via express.co.uk
  
  The state pension is worth £203 each week, however, the DWP estimated that around 1.8 million pensioners are getting less than £100 each week.
  
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• Martin Lewis warns Britons need to take action in next few days to reduce energy bills

  27-06-2023 09:47 via express.co.uk
  
  Martin Lewis is calling for people to take action as energy bills will reduce in just a few days when the Ofgem price cap falls.
  
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• New savings account smashes rivals paying 5.85% - ‘frenetic’ rates will hit 6% in days

  27-06-2023 08:22 via express.co.uk
  
  Today's savings market is "frenetic" as new best buy accounts are launched several times a day. Savers can earn up to 5.85 percent a year now but soon they'll get even more.
  
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• How can BT be so insensitive to the needs of my 100-year-old mother?

  27-06-2023 08:00
  
  Her landline is vital for an emergency alarm but it insists on a new 18-month contract if she cancels broadbandMy 100-year-old mother has been a BT customer for more than 70 years. After a bad fall in March she was hospitalised for eight weeks. She has not been able to return home because of increased frailty and went into a care home in early May.She is paying £128 a month for phone and broadband (which she hardly ever uses). I want to cancel the broadband but keep her landline. She is st
  
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